Friday, June 29, 2007

etsy friday

I'd like to start etsy friday with a link to Deb's blog (FearlessFibers.etsy.com's dye maven). She's gone and said directly what I've been trying to do indirectly with these etsy posts, trying to raise an online consciousness about etsy thru a groundswell of grassroots, individual support and chatter. Etsy has several key missions that are close to my heart-- one being the desire to create a venue for people to work at home and support themselves from, another being a facilitator between an actual, real live seller and an actual, real live buyer. I'm fascinated with etsy, not only because it gives me a place in the corner of the cold internet to make a little wakare for myself, but because I'm doing it amongst artists and thinkers and people who create things. (Almost) everything I purchase on etsy has been thru someone's hands, shaped and created and thought about by a single other person... and it makes the world seem smaller because of it.

I go on and on these Fridays because I'm floored at what is out there in the world, how many different hand crafts there are. I live very much in a knitting vacuum, constantly amazed what others create with sticks and string-- and here etsy comes along, an umbrella of handmade things that just opens my eyes every time I visit. I go on and on because I want etsy to do well, want its sellers to do well, want it to be one of those places everyone knows about even if they don't shop there. Imagine that, etsy invading the pop culture conscious, hand in hand with handmade. Gives me *that* kind of thrill. :)

So I'll echo Deb's post, and maybe even shyly ask that you help spread the word about etsy as well. A big ask for me, but the only one (I promise).

This one has been a long time in the works. Yall know I am a fan of the little box bags by JapaneseHandmadeEtc. Satomi recently completed a move to the States, but before that she agreed to make a custom set of bags for me from Japanese fabrics I purchased on etsy. I waited til she was settled stateside to send the fabric... the bags are here and they're awesome. I'm using mine to keep all of my sock projects together (better than the lots and lots of loose projects on my desk), and my son is using his to haul little boy treasures in... sturdy enough even for clanky cars and metal Thomas trains.

This was one of my (many) accidental finds on etsy-- the seller had this item featured on the front page, and I fell in love. The front page selection of items is chosen by etsy admin from the lists in the user-created Treasury; you can create a "treasury" of 12 etsy items around a theme for others to browse. Themes can be anything you choose-- color, materials, song titles, obscure stuff I don't get cos I'm near on not cool enough to, etc. The treasury that jmday was in made the front page, which is like a huge deal, and I was lucky enough to have this little guy make his way home to me after seeing him featured.

Of everything I've purchased on etsy, I've purchased the most things from April at creativeapples. Has to be, I'm never bored shopping with her. Not only is her shop a treat for the eyes, but she is *happy* to make prints and notecards from any images in her flickr stream (and they're awesome-- maybe more than half of the cards I've purchased have been a special order from her portfolio?) The supercool robot and prone supine woman in the bottom left was a special request for a notecard from a print she has listed in her shop.

Sometimes it shocks even me, the weird range I have in choosing cards when shopping etsy. The saucecat pet bear card is made from a clipping of a 1931 children's book, the heartcore44 card is an entirely handstamped scene of postage and a man in a boat, the punch card from kiwipunchdesigns has the most awesome envelope (neon koi), and the japanese woman playing a shamisen on the back of a dragon in the sea by monkeyshines... well! :)

Not everything on etsy has to be handmade (though not without a bit of controversy!) You can buy vintage items there, as well as supplies-- both commercial and handmade supplies have their own categories. I enjoy buying supplies from etsy, like this cut fabric (isn't it cool?!) I like supporting sellers on etsy and etsy itself, and looking for supplies like findings and fabrics on etsy does that. There's also a fun range of supplies to be found-- this is a fabric printed in Hawaii of sweet shochikubai rice that's harvested in California. Its a familiar thing to me, and gives me that little thrill seeing it reproduced this way.

10 comments:

So much enabling, I just can't stand it - stuff to buy, a swap, and of course, enabling others to come buy my crap! I love it! (Also, I'm sorry to anyone who has ever soiled themselves while visiting my blog.)

I hate that every time someone asks me about where I got this or the other, and I say Etsy, NO ONE KNOWS what it is! Only the greatest website ever! Go there! I'd buy everything I ever needed to survive off of Etsy sellers if I could. Actually, that could be a fun challenge....

You're preaching to the choir here! I'm a huge etsy fan. I love buying from independent sellers who have such pride in their work. It is such a personal transaction every time I make a purchase from one of them - and I always find the product that arrives on my doorstep is even better than I had anticipated.Great post!

I learned about the box bags from you a few months ago and have been patiently waiting for her move to the states and list box bags again. When I saw her mentioned in your post, I bopped over to see if she had bags and there was one which I quickly snatched. Then I came back to finish reading your post. I like seeing what people find on etsy.Punkin in Oregon